There are gazillions of websites on the Internet that focus on every topic under the sun. What do 99.92 percent of them have in common? They use images and animations to help convey what they’re trying to say.
Think about it. When was the last time you picked up a newspaper or magazine that consisted of page after page of copy? I’ll bet never. Both media use illustrations, photos, and clip art to break up the text and make it more appealing to read.
Same goes for the family newsletter that your Aunt Bertha sends out every Christmas. Right before the update on her bunion and right after she chronicles the latest accomplishment of Chester the cat, she probably inserted an image of one or the other. Hopefully the cat.
The web opens up a whole new world of what you can do with images. Take the said image, code it to move and you’ve got an animation. Everyone was using animations for their personal web pages. Copy blinked, pictures danced…it was all very wacky.
These days, animations are mostly used in ads – banner ads that stretch across the top of the page, embedded ads in the middle of an article, or pop up ads that appear when you click into a page.
Hard on the heels of the Internet explosion came community web forums, where people can chat about diets, religion, politics, or the current contestants on “Project Runway.” At first these chat participant used clever screen handles. Eventually, those were accompanied by avatars, or icons. These days many people use animated avatars. Some are funny, some are annoying, but they’re all guaranteed to draw the eye faster than the non-animated versions.
The images and animations you choose for your own project depends on the purpose of said project. A banker looking for a business card logo for a business card would probably stay away from dousing it with not-so-subtle”$” signs. Especially when a card in a conservative color, that lists his name and contact information in elegant script will do nicely.
However, if you’re a local car dealership and need a website designed to move cars off the lot fast, then go crazy with the animated dancing chickens or whatever your gimmick is this week.
The December issue of the company newsletter could get away with images of a candy cane here or a sprig of holly there, but probably not much else. However, your MySpace page is a perfect place for a multitude of blinking, sparkling images of animated holiday cheer.
Remember, images and animations can add a lot to your project. But only if they’re used appropriately. And, in the case of animations, sparingly. After all, you’re using images and animations to draw the eye to your text, so people will read what you’ve written. Once they get to the actual copy, you don’t want them continually distracted by the rotating photo you’ve embedded in the upper left hand corner.
